Almost there. Not long to go now. As I traverse what my one remaining spiritual guide told me was 'the dark night of the soul' I am finally done with all religions, even the quite sane and rational religion of Buddhism. It's still a system of organized religion, so it has to go too. I have to throw out the whole lot, I just have to. I feel like someone has come to me, drawn aside a curtain that was obscuring certain truths from me, and said, "see! most of what you believed about life was false. here's the truth: it is quite plausible that: there is no 'purpose' to life there is no afterlife good and bad actions are neither 'rewarded' nor 'punished' after physical death 'meaning' is a mental construct 'God' is a mental construct After physical death consciousness is snuffed out forever, and one ceases to exist forever" therefore, this life has no intrinsic 'value' or 'purpose' other than what we personally imbue it with. it is neither valuable nor valueless. 'value' is a mental construct. So much for me thinking I was on the path to wisdom. I know almost nothing at all. I've done meditation, 'prayer', read spiritual texts...and now, I can barely even sit for five minutes to breathe meditatively, which I used to actually love doing. I don't expect any sympathy, but I do want to know how folks who have known the things I spoke of above, how do you keep going? If I did not have kids who would be devastated if I were gone, I would seriously consider taking my own life. If I'm just a pile of animated dust on the way to becoming a pile of ashes, what is the point of persisting? I just put this out here to get it off my chest. No need to reply. I cannot be helped. Yes I have a counsellor, and no I'm not going to kill myself. But thank you if you read this anyway.
I'm with you bro. I've been an atheist for several years now. I went from being a fundamentalist Christian I'm mid adolescence to an occultist in my late teens. When I found that i could not prove any metaphysical or supernatural phenomena or tenets to my satisfaction, I became an atheist. I don't believe in objective valuation of any kind. I do think it's okay to pretend our own subjective values and desires are objective though. It's how I live my life, and I derive enormous pleasure from it, as well as self-esteem. People always suppose that for something to be worthwhile, it has to be objective. I couldn't care less, and neither should you. Be capricious, full of life, and be yourself. Do what you feel. Don't worry about the point. It can be wherever you can make it. ---------- Post added 16th Dec 2014 at 01:48 AM ---------- There are some eternal aspects of life that, while not metaphysical, supernatural, or promising an afterlife, still give a sense of meaning to existence. This kind of spiritual experience can only be found when you're so engaged by whatever you're doing that you forget to think. Life can be ecstasy. ---------- Post added 16th Dec 2014 at 01:55 AM ---------- In my opinion, the greatest form of meditation, if you choose to call it that, is exemplified by living. It's not about sitting somewhere with your legs crossed. It's about being embodied and experiencing the world.
